Find a Niche that Matches Your Knowledge and Skills

This is the second article in the series "Success: Target a Good Market Niche with a Proper Product"

The best policy when determining your product and target market is to do what you enjoy doing. You'll achieve the best results if you love your work. So, first of all, think about the things you like to do most of all. It may be your current job, one of your previous ones, your hobby, your favorite kind of sports, or anything else you like.

Write down all those possible areas of interest, and then think about each one of them separately. Try to answer the following questions:

• Would you be glad to choose it as a daily job?
• Do you have some unique skills or knowledge in that field?
• Who would be interested in your proposition?
• Would you like to work with those people?

After that, you should have a list of areas of interest that have the best chances to bring you the success.

Now, you can pick one of those areas and start structuring your knowledge. Write down the list of all the basic things one needs to learn to reach your level of success in that area. Then put them in a logical order, so that your customer could learn them in sequence. Then, do the same for each item in your list - break it into smaller parts, and then arrange those small parts in a logical order.

When you finish such two-level lists for several areas of interest, you'll have some ideas about what you can offer to other people. Look through your lists, and think over each item.

• Do you know anything special about it?
• Do you have any related skills?
• Can you try and create some product to help people solve that problem?
• Can you offer something outstanding, not present anywhere else in the market?

Write down your ideas and try to imagine and describe a business built on every of those ideas. Some of them might look weird, but some may be quite viable.

Show your lists and ideas to your friends, listen to their opinion. They'll surely tell you what ideas they like most, and maybe they'll even give you some more ideas. They can also point out some logical mistakes you might have made. Ask your friends what products they might need, or what they would be willing to learn. Think how you can help them. Many other people could have the same problems as your friends. Again, write down all new ideas and imagine developing a business.

Do some research in the Internet. Find the web sites related to your areas of interest and your specific ideas. Learn what other people say about those things. Find some related online forums, or newsgroups. Listen to what people say, especially to what they need. If you notice any problems that many people tend to experience, think how you can help them. See if there is some serious competition in your field. As always, write down and think over your new ideas.

And, besides of conducting your research intentionally, always write down the "incidental" ideas that come to you during a walk in the park, or during your lunch. The best ideas often appear at the moments like that, so make sure you don't forget them. Just make a small note, and then think it over when you have more time.

If you do all of the above, you'll soon have a ton of ideas. Of course, they will be of different quality. Pick those that you like most, and research them more thoroughly. Try to invent your own products, or find someone else's products that could make those ideas work. Why consider someone else's products? Because you can form a joint venture with the product's owner, and take a commission for selling that product in your specific market niche.

Continued in Part 3: Estimate Your Chances Before the Big Work